News & Articles on Burma-Wednesday, 02 March, 2011

News & Articles on Burma
Wednesday, 02 March, 2011
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Recent clash due to politics: Yawdserk
US Expresses Concern over Burma-North Korea Relationship
New alliance designing joint Union Army
China, Myanmar companies jointly to produce heavy duty trucks
Myanmar to receive new batch of MiG-29s from March
Heavy fire, landmines rock eastern Burma
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Recent clash due to politics: Yawdserk
Wednesday, 02 March 2011 17:12 S.H.A.N.

Lt-Gen Yawdserk, leader of the non-ceasefire Shan State Army (SSA), popularly known as the SSA South, defended his 28 February-1 March attack on 3 bases of the PaO National Organization (PNO), that had converted into a junta-run militia force, by saying the clash had to do with politics than any other considerations.

[Lt-Gen Yawdserk (Photo: S.H.A.N.)]

Lt-Gen Yawdserk (Photo: S.H.A.N.)
“We have had several clashes with other Burma Army run militia forces before this,” he told SHAN today. “It has to do with which side you are on than any other reasons. If you are with the Burma Army, consider yourself fair game to the SSA.”

The attack in Namzang township resulted in the seizure of 100viss (160 kg) of opium, 250 liters of liquid precursor and 7 assorted weapons plus 6 dead on the militia side, according to the SSA’s website http//www.taifreedom.com.

The PNO concluded a ceasefire pact with Rangoon on 27 March 1991 and agreed to become a People’s Militia force run by the Burma Army in 2009. It had won 10 seats in the November elections in the 3 townships designated as the PaO Self Administered Zone: Hsihseng, Hopong and Panglawng.
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US Expresses Concern over Burma-North Korea Relationship
By LALIT K JHA Wednesday, March 2, 2011

WASHINGTON — The United States on Tuesday expressed serious concerns over the growing relationship between Burma and North Korea, as a top Obama administration official told lawmakers that the US is closely monitoring the activities of the two countries.

Speaking before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Kurt Campbell, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, said that the major source of concern is Pyongyang's continuing efforts to provide weapons to Burma's ruling military junta.

“In the past, most of North Korea's proliferation activities have affected the Middle East. But in the recent period they have increased substantially, we believe, the provision of certain conventional technologies—small arms and also some missile components—to Burma in strict and clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions,” Campbell said.

Responding to a question from Sen Richard Lugar, the ranking Republican on the committee, Campbell described Burma-North Korea ties as “a subject of enormous concern.”

He added that the US has “worked closely with a number of countries in Southeast Asia to assist us in establishing a greater degree of confidence about illicit transfers, largely by ship, coming from North Korea.”

Curtailing arms shipments to Burma “is at the top of our list in terms of our overall concerns,” said Campbell, who admitted that despite some successes, blocking Pyongyang has been “an enormously challenging problem and in fact North Korea in many of these areas has demonstrated itself that they are a determined proliferator.”

Campbell's remarks come as a recent report detailed some of the dangers of allowing Burma to expand its arsenal of sophisticated weapons with North Korean assistance.

According to veteran Burma watcher Bertil Lintner, the Burmese junta's Directorate of Defense Industries is already developing long-range Scud-type missiles with North Korean assistance at a munitions factory near Minhla, a small town south of Minbu in Magway Division.

“A Scud-armed Myanmar [Burma] would place its capabilities a significant notch above its Southeast Asian neighbors, which do not possess such long-range missiles,” wrote Lintner in a report for Asia Times online.

“The revelations could spark a regional arms race, prompting neighboring countries such as Thailand to develop or procure their own missile arsenal.”
http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20857
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New alliance designing joint Union Army
Wednesday, 02 March 2011 11:28 S.H.A.N.

The United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), formed last month, has been embarking on an ambitious plan to set up a Union Army to be made up of armed forces from its 12-member organizations, according to inside sources.

[Abel Tweed (Photo: Dailymotion.com)]

The grouping’s military wing is to be headed by one of its vice presidents. The two vice presidents elected on 16 February are the Kachin Independence Organization’s Gauri Zauseng and Karenni National Progress Party’s Abel Tweed. (The president is Karen National Union’s Mutu Saypo.)

The latter was on Monday elected as Acting President of the KNPP to succeed Hte Bu Peh, who passed away on 27 January.

According to the UNFC constitution, a member organization’s top leader can only be in the political leading body, not being able to devote full time to the duties in the alliance. “It appears they will have to find a new vice president,” remarked Abel Tweed.

The head of the UNFC Defense Department is required to form a central military commission made up of military representatives sent by member organizations.

According to the resolutions reached by the UNFC Central Executive Committee, the alliance would draw up a plan to form the Union Army, as well as its regulations which will include strict observation of international laws governing conduct of war.

The constitution also requires the Union Army to form 4 regional commands:



* The First Military Region (Northern Burma)
* The Second Military Region (Eastern Burma)
* The Third Military Region (Western Burma)
* The Special Military Region (to be designated later)


The UNFC calls for the emergence of a federal union. The current Burmese regime has been staunchly opposed to federalism, saying it is secession in disguise. http://www.shanland.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3491:new-alliance-designing-joint-union-army&catid=85:politics&Itemid=266
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China, Myanmar companies jointly to produce heavy duty trucks
(Xinhua) Updated: 2011-03-02 14:51

YANGON - China and Myanmar companies have reached an agreement on production of 10-15 ton heavy duty trucks in Myanmar, the State-run paper the New Light of Myanmar reported Wednesday.

China National Heavy Duty Truck Group Co Ltd (CNHTC) and General Heavy Machinery Industry signed the contract on the above project in Nay Pyi Taw Tuesday.

The contract signing ceremony was the handover of technology for manufacturing of 10-15 ton TE-31 Utility Truck (Medium) at No 11 General Heavy Machinery Factory (Yangon) under No 1 General Heavy Machinery to be implemented with the loan of $20 million granted by Preferential Buyer Credit Loan of the People's Republic of China, the report said.

The project will be completed during this year, mainly producing machineries such as 10-15 ton (6x4) trucks, water tankers, oil tankers and concrete mixers, and fire engines etc.

Related readings:
China, Myanmar companies jointly to produce heavy duty trucks Daimler in truck deal with Foton
The 90 percent of machine parts used in the production will be from the factories of the Ministry of Industry-2, it said.

According to other report, altogether 82,785 motor vehicles have been produced by Myanmar's 18 industrial zones up to June, 2010.

Of the total foreign investment injected in over two decades, China's investment has now topped with $9.603 billion, overtaking Thailand which once stood at $9.568 billion in the foreign investment line-up previously.

According to Chinese official statistics, bilateral trade between China and Myanmar totaled $4.444 billion in 2010, an increase of 53.2 percent correspondingly.

There are 170 Chinese companies investing in Myanmar according to the figures. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2011-03/02/content_12103724.htm
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Myanmar to receive new batch of MiG-29s from March
SOURCE:Flight International
DATE:02/03/11


Myanmar will in March receive the first of 20 RSK MiG-29s ordered under a roughly €400 million ($553 million) deal, with their introduction to more than double the country's MiG-29 fleet.

Ordered in November 2009, the aircraft will be delivered in three configurations, comprising 10 MiG-29B and six MiG-29SE single-seat fighters and four MiG-29UB twin-seat operational trainers.

The acquisition effectively clears the remaining MiG-29B/SE stock at RSK MiG's Lukhovitsy plant, with the airframe parts having been manufactured in the Soviet and Perestroika eras. Myanmar's aircraft will be delivered in an original export configuration, with analogue instruments and Phazotron N-019 radars.

Myanmar previously bought used MiG-29s from Belarus, but approached the type's manufacturer and Russian arms export company Rosoboronexport for help after encountering a high attrition rate. Moscow responded with help on weapons, spare parts and training, including the installation of a simulator at one of its air bases.

Acquiring an additional batch of fighters directly from RSK MiG should radically improve the combat readiness and effectiveness of Myanmar's fleet, sources say. Its air force now has 12 MiG-29s, says Flightglobal's MiliCAS database.

Meanwhile, RSK MiG says a new logistics support system to be established in co-operation with Indian companies will enable it to provide increased customer support for the nation's MiG-29s, plus those flown by the air forces of Malaysia and Myanmar. http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2011/03/02/353771/myanmar-to-receive-new-batch-of-mig-29s-from-march.html
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Heavy fire, landmines rock eastern Burma
By NAW NOREEN
Published: 2 March 2011

A landmine victim sits in the Mae Tao clinic in Thailand's Mae Sot, where thousands of Karen seek treatment each year (James Mackay)

Landmine explosions on three consecutive days in Pegu division claimed one life and injured more as ongoing fighting in Burma’s east continues to displace thousands.

Locals in Pegu’s Shwekyin township, where Burmese troops are fighting the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), said that regular explosions rocked the surrounding area every day between 25 and 28 February, leaving one man dead and two with severe injuries to their legs.

Shwekyin residents also say that no warning was given to civilians about the location of the ordinance. While no one has claimed responsibility for the landmines, the Burmese army was recently named the world’s only remaining active user of the maligned weapon.

Heavy fighting meanwhile continues to rage in Karen state, which is sandwiched between Pegu division and Burma’s border with Thailand. Burmese troops have been battling a coalition of nearly four months, with little sign that fighting is easing.

Burmese troops last week pounded nine villages in the Hpa-pun district with heavy artillery fire, forcing around one thousand people to flee into the surrounding jungle.

“Some of their houses have been burnt down,” said Major Kaleh Doh of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), which is fighting alongside the DKBA. “The villagers were afraid to go back to their homes because of worries that Burmese troops might lay mines around there.”

The fighting has forced thousands of Karen refugees into neighbouring Thailand, but conditions there are said to be difficult. Around 10,000 currently sheltering in tents along the banks of the Moei river, which separates the two countries, are suffering food shortages, with many forced to live on plain rice and, unable to work in Thailand, struggling to make money.
http://www.dvb.no/news/heavy-fire-landmines-rock-eastern-burma/14542